1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to vending machines and, more particularly, is concerned with dispensing wheel alignment devices in vending machines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One general type of prior art vending machine, that has been manufactured and sold heretofore by the inventor herein, includes a merchandise storage and dispensing head, a housing supporting the head, a coin-actuated mechanism mounted on and extending into the interior of the housing to where the mechanism operably engages the head, and a coin box disposed in a lower base of the housing below the mechanism for receiving coins from the operation of the coin-actuated mechanism. An upper body of the housing rests on the lower base which closes the bottom of the housing. The upper body of the housing has an interior compartment and supports the merchandise storage and dispensing head at an upper open end of the upper body of the housing. The coin box is typically accessible through one of the end walls of the housing lower base by a key-actuated lock.
More particularly, the merchandise storage and dispensing head includes a globe or canister, a hopper and a dispensing wheel. The canister is disposed above the upper open end of the upper body for storing the items of merchandise in the globe. The hopper is attached to and disposed below the globe and supported on the upper open end of the upper body. The dispensing wheel is seated within the hopper so as to underlie the globe and revolve in the hopper to dispense a preset amount of items of the merchandise from the globe, in response to operation of the coin-actuated mechanism, into a dispensing chute typically mounted to and disposed within the upper body below the dispensing wheel and extending to a location at the exterior of the upper body where the preset amount of items can be retrieved by a user.
The coin-actuated mechanism has exposed at the exterior of the upper body a coin deposit slot and a handle accessible for operation by a user. The handle can be rotated when one or more coins of correct denomination, or properly configured tokens, are inserted into the coin deposit slot. Rotation of the handle, in turn, rotates a gear meshing with a toothed edge of the dispensing wheel within the upper body compartment such that rotation of the coin-actuated mechanism causes the dispensing wheel to revolve and dispense merchandise through the dispensing chute. Also, as the coin-actuated mechanism completes its rotation the coin or token is discharged from it into the coin box in the lower base below the upper body compartment.
In this type of vending machine, the head and housing are held together by a central assembly rod which at a lower end bypasses the coin box and is threadably affixed to the bottom wall of the lower base. The central assembly rod extends therefrom upwardly from the lower base through the interior compartment of the upper body and therefrom through the dispensing wheel and the globe to a top cap which seats on and closes an open top of the globe. At such top location of the vending machine, an upper end of the assembly rod is locked into a top key-operated lock that is threaded onto the upper end of the central assembly rod so as to provide sufficient downward force against the top cap to secure together all components of the vending machine between the lower base and the top cap.
It is essential to initially correctly assemble the merchandise storage and dispensing head upon the housing and to do so after each replenishment of merchandise in the canister of the head, in order to ensure that the initial or starting position of the dispensing mechanism in its operating cycle of rotation is properly aligned with a drive gear of the coin actuation mechanism so that the dispensing of the desired quantity or amount of merchandise from the dispensing mechanism to the discharge chute will occur in response to each coin deposited in the coin actuation mechanism. Heretofore, it has been the responsibility of persons who place the head upon the housing to manually rotate and thereby adjust the dispensing mechanism to the desired angular position in its rotation cycle at which the dispensing mechanism is properly aligned with the drive gear of the coin actuation mechanism. However, it frequently arises that many such persons fail to accurately place the dispensing mechanism at the desired starting position which then results in malfunction of the dispensing mechanism in the form of jamming of the merchandise in the dispensing mechanism or improper dispensing of more merchandise that than desired in response to each coin that is deposited in the coin actuation mechanism such that the owner of the vending machine suffers a loss in revenue as a result.
Consequently, a need exists for an innovation which provides a solution to the aforementioned problem in the prior art without introducing any new problems in place thereof.